


Ignored and Feeling Forgotten

by Larry_Klaine_Stylinson



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Anorexia, Eating Disorders, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-09
Updated: 2013-05-09
Packaged: 2017-12-10 20:56:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/790073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larry_Klaine_Stylinson/pseuds/Larry_Klaine_Stylinson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry falls for Louis at around the same time that Louis gets a girlfriend. Louis begins spending less and less time with Harry, and Harry begins to feel worse and worse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ignored and Feeling Forgotten

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written as a prompt fill on Tumblr.
> 
> I feel like the front half of this story is kind of shitty compared to my usual stuff, so I apologize for that if you guys agree with me.

Harry had made friends with Louis when they'd both started going to the same school about a year and a half ago. Harry had been a new student, and Louis had sort of taken him under his wing, showing him around and telling him which teachers were mean and which students would most likely try to steal his lunch and which students would help him on projects if he asked, and Harry listened with rapt attention.

They had quickly become best mates, and for Harry's first year at the school, he and Louis were practically inseparable. They didn't share any classes, as Louis was two years older. But they ate lunch together and sometimes they walked to and from school together, because after becoming friends, they'd found that Louis lived just a block down from Harry's new home. They spent weekends together and did homework together after school some days, and Harry was really glad to have a friend as wonderful as Louis.

Halfway through the Summer, Louis began dating a girl. Her name was Valerie, and she was just about the loveliest thing Harry had ever seen. She had long, straight, dark brown hair, grey eyes, and a gorgeous smile. She was shorter than Louis, but not by much. And Louis seemed to be quite enamored by her.

Unfortunately for Harry, he had been growing more and more attached to Louis as time went on, and just two days before Louis and Valerie had gotten together, Harry had realized that he had some very strong, more than friendly feelings for Louis. He had been planning on telling him a week later, when they had plans to go out for tea and maybe play a bit of football, though Harry always felt foolish playing with Louis. He was a bit shit at football, and Louis was amazing.

Louis had called him, shouting about Valerie, who Harry had seen around. She went to their school as well, and was in the grade between Louis and Harry's year. She seemed nice enough, and Harry tried to sound happy for Louis. Because he was, really. He wanted Louis to be happy, and although Louis didn't talk much about who he liked, Harry assumed that he must have liked Valerie a whole lot to be this excited about it. So Harry held back his own feelings, and just let himself be happy for Louis.

They had still gone out and played football and went for tea. But instead of Harry telling Louis how he felt about him, Harry listened as Louis rambled on and on about Valerie and how lovely she was and how much fun they'd been having together, and Harry sipped on his tea, biting his lip to stop himself from saying something stupid.

They spent a lot less time together than usual over the remainder of the Summer, seeing as Louis was often out with Valerie, at the cinema or going to dinner. A few times, Louis had invited Harry along, and Harry had gone once. But after sitting across from them as they fed each other food and called each other sickening pet names, Harry knew he could never join them again. It would quite honestly make him ill.

School had started once again, and it was Louis' last year. They still weren't spending quite as much time together, though Louis still walked him home at least once a week, and Harry was glad of that. But often times Louis would eat lunch with Valerie and her friends, and Harry would be left to eat with a few friends he'd made in his year. They were nice enough, but they weren't Louis. And Harry wanted Louis.

Louis still came over and did homework with Harry on occasion. He still called Harry at night and they'd chat. But on weekends, he'd be out with Valerie.

Harry began to miss Louis. Even when he was with him he'd miss him, because Louis would be texting Valerie, or talking on the phone with Valerie and distracting Harry from his homework. One time, they'd been sitting together on the sofa watching a film, and Valerie had texted Louis that she was lonely, and there he'd gone.

They were halfway through the school year now, and it seemed as if Louis had completely given up on trying to make a balance between Harry and Valerie. He'd chosen Valerie, obviously. And it wasn't like Harry could really be all that mad. Valerie was Louis' girlfriend after all. But he was sad. He was very sad. He missed his best friend and he wanted him back.

He tried to bond more with some of the students in his year, but they all already had their little groups of friends, and he just didn't fit in with any of them quite as well. He wondered if maybe he just wasn't trying hard enough, because deep down, he knew his heart belonged to Louis.

Harry called Louis every once in a while, and sometimes he'd answer, and sometimes he wouldn't. But when he did answer, they never talked for long. They'd chat for a bit about nothing of importance, and then Louis would say that he had to go because he had plans with "Val" as he called her. And Harry would roll his eyes and try to keep all emotion out of his voice as he told Louis goodbye.

At this point, Harry was losing all motivation to do anything. He was getting shit grades in school and he was sleeping more often than not. He forgot to do his homework sometimes, and his mum seemed worried, but he didn't really want to talk to her about it, so he'd just brush her off every time she asked if he was okay.

He never left the house except to go to school, and he wasn't really eating. It hadn't been a conscious decision at first. He'd just been feeling miserable, and he couldn't be bothered to get up and get something to eat, and by the time his mum had made dinner, he'd been asleep.

When he woke up the next morning, he'd had an ache in his stomach that he found to be rather pleasant, and he'd just decided not to eat breakfast, just to keep that little aching pain. It distracted him from the fact that he never saw Louis anymore and gave him something else to think about. Skipping breakfast turned into skipping lunch, and skipping lunch turned into getting all of his homework done before dinner and slipping off to sleep before his mum could force him to eat.

He went on like this for a week, eating an apple at lunch time every other day, just to keep himself from passing out, and drinking a lot of water to keep hydrated.

He liked the empty feeling in his stomach, and after a few days, his stomach had stopped growling. He felt like maybe his body had given up on trying to get him to eat. His stomach had finally caught up with his brain and realized that being mostly empty was kind of nice, and so it had shut up, and Harry had been able to enjoy it a lot more after that. He'd hated being in the middle of a particularly quiet class and then having his stomach rumble like an angry lion.

He got home from school on Friday, and his mum stopped him before he could get up to his room to hide away until sleep took him.

"Harry, love, come sit down."

"I've got a lot of homework to do." Harry said, fidgeting with the strap of his bag.

"We need to talk."

Harry sighed, following his mum into the kitchen and sitting down across the table from her.

"You haven't been eating." She said.

"'Course I have." Harry argued.

"You haven't had dinner in over a week, Harry."

"I've been sleeping. I'm eating breakfast and lunch, mum. Don't worry. I'm keeping myself very well fed." He was surprised at how easily the lie had slipped out of his mouth.

"You're sure?" Anne asked him.

"Positive, mum."

"Alright." She nodded, getting up. "I think you should get out a bit more often. Call up Louis or something, yeah? I know he's been busy, but you two are best mates, I'm sure he can make time for you."

"Yeah, mum." Harry nodded, waiting until he'd made his way up to his room to cry.

He wished his mum was right. Wished that Louis would make time for him, because they were best mates and he cared. But he didn't make time for him, and he wouldn't make time for him just because Harry asked him to.

He cried himself to sleep, and woke up with just enough time to throw on a pair of shoes and run out the door and off to school. He hadn't done his homework, and all of his teachers berated him and told him he needed to try harder. It didn't seem like anyone would understand that he was trying as hard as he could. It was all just too much at this point. He just wanted Louis back. Even just a simple phone call that lasted more than five minutes would be enough, at this point.

A month passed by, and he spoke to Louis a few times, but never for long. On the rare occasions that he got to speak to Louis for ten or fifteen minutes, Valerie was always in the background, distracting him, or asking him questions, and Harry wished he had the strength to hang up. But he couldn't because all he really wanted was to hear Louis' voice.

He was beginning to feel very weak. Probably from lack of eating. There was a small part of him that wanted to start eating again, but every time he thought about it, his body would revolt against him and he'd feel sick to his stomach, and his head would begin to pound, and so he knew that he couldn't.

He slept through classes, and his mum had given him a few talks about paying attention and focusing and how school was the most important thing right now. She'd been giving him curious looks lately, almost as if she was examining him, and Harry didn't like it. He'd spent a lot more time in his room than usual just to get away from it.

He went to school one day and nearly half of the students in his year were missing. He heard people talking, and it seemed like there was a nasty bug going around. Nothing too serious, really. Just a bit of a stomach flu. But most of the people who had gotten it were far too sick to come to school.

Two days later and he woke up with sweat beading on his forehead, his t-shirt soaked from all the sweating he'd done over night. He grimaced and sat up, kicking his sheets off quickly and going to look at himself in the mirror. He was more pale than usual, and his eyes were glossy. He felt dizzy, but that was nothing new really. This was worse than usual, though.

He was on his way downstairs to tell his mum that he thought he may need to skip school today when his stomach began to turn. He ran back up the steps, dry heaving a bit on the way, and reaching the toilet just in time to spill what little there was in his stomach out into the clear water that filled the toilet bowl. He was pretty sure he'd just thrown up a large amount of stomach acid mixed with a little water, because there had been no food in his stomach for him to expel, and his throat felt almost as if he'd just had a nice glass of battery acid to drink.

He laid down on the floor and called for his mum, who came rushing up the stairs and into the bathroom, asking him if he was alright.

"I think so." Harry said. "Caught this bug that was going around at school." He said, eyes closed, the bright fluorescent lights making his head pound and his stomach turn.

"Let me feel your forehead, love." His mother said, dropping down beside him and resting her palm on his forehead gently. "You're burning up." She told him. "I'm taking you to the hospital."

Harry groaned, "I don't want to go to the hospital. I just need to stay home from school for a day or two and then I'll be fine."

"You've been in a right state for weeks. Whether this is just a bug or not, there's something seriously wrong with you, and we're going to get you checked out."

"Mum." Harry whined.

"No arguing, Harry. You're going. Come on. Get up. I'm taking you in right now."

Harry sighed, struggling to get himself up off the ground. His mother wrapped an arm around him and grabbed him a pair of slippers, holding him steady as he put them on before helping him out to the car. They drove to the hospital, and went inside. They were stuck out in the waiting room for what felt like ages before they were finally allowed back into a room to see a doctor. They made him pee in a cup and took a bit of blood, they did a few tests which involved having swabs stuck up his nose, and he wondered what that had to do with anything. Weren't those generally for people who had sinus problems?

Once the nurses had gotten what they needed, they left the room, and Harry and his mother were left alone. Harry figured it was time to come clean.

"Um, mum." He said.

"Yes, love?"

"I should probably tell you something before the doctors do."

"What is it?" She asked, scooting her chair over from the side of the room, closer to where the little table-bed that Harry was now lying on was placed.

Harry took a deep breath, not sure how to go about this, and decided just to say it, "I haven't been eating."

Anne let out a soft sigh, "I didn't think you had." She shook her head. "I should have tried harder to get you to tell me. I should have forced you to eat dinner."

Harry saw tears fill his mother's eyes, and he felt awful, "It isn't your fault, mum. I wouldn't have listened to you if you'd tried."

"Why did you stop eating?" She asked him, reaching out and taking his hands in hers.

"I missed Louis. I still miss Louis." Harry said, pausing for a moment to bite his lip. "I skipped dinner on accident the first night, and it just...It was nice. I liked it. And then after that I just...I didn't eat. And then there was a part of me that wanted to eat, but it made me ill just thinking about it. Like my body had become so used to not eating that just the thought of actually eating something made me freak out." He shrugged.

"And this was all because of Louis?"

"I guess so, yeah." Harry said.

"You should have told me." She said. "You should have told Louis. I know he's let his girlfriend take importance over you, and he shouldn't have. But I also know that he cares about you, and he wouldn't want you doing this."

"I know." Harry nodded, biting his lip and holding back tears. He'd been foolish, really.

The doctor came in a while later, and Harry told him what had been going on, and he told Harry that he did, in fact, have the bug that had been going around, and that that on top of the anorexia could be a serious problem if he didn't stay in the hospital for a few days and get some of his vital nutrients replenished.

They set up a room for him, and he laid down on the tiny little hospital bed, and Harry groaned at the feel of the itchy sheets beneath his skin. They hooked him up to an IV, and got some sort of heart monitor set up, just to check his vitals. They weren't really worried about him, but they were having some sort of long talk with his mother outside right now, which he assumed was about his mental health, and what she should do to help him get better or whatever.

He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, his body tired from fighting off the illness whilst being highly underfed. When he awoke, there was a little note sitting on his pillow, halfway under his face. He grabbed it and read it. It was from his mum, telling him that she had to go, but she'd be back later to check on him.

He looked at the clock and it was four thirty in the afternoon. He began picking at his thumb nail, only now noticing how thin his nails had become, his body not producing enough of whatever it was that made nails strong. Harry didn't have the brain power to try and remember what that was. He looked down at his own body and noticed how frighteningly skinny he was, and it was scary for him to think that he hadn't noticed all of that before.

He heard a soft knock at the door, and then Louis' smiling face was popping around the corner. For a moment, he thought he must be dreaming.

"Louis?" He asked.

"It's me." Louis smiled, bringing a chair over next to Harry's bed and sitting down. "Your mum called me and told me you were here. Said you'd probably want to tell me what happened yourself. Break your legs playing football or something?" He chuckled.

"No, Lou." Harry said grimly, biting his lip. He really didn't want to talk to him about this.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Louis asked. "You don't look so great."

"Why now?"

"What?" Louis asked, his brow creasing.

"Why do you have time for me now?"

"Harry, your mum's just told me you were stuck in the hospital. What sort of friend would I be if I didn't come to see how you're feeling?"

"So we're still friends then?" Harry asked, and he'd planned for it to come out in a bitter, biting tone. But instead he had sounded more like a kicked puppy.

"Of course we're friends. What are you on about?"

"You've hardly spent any time with me since you started dating Valerie." Harry said softly. "I wasn't sure what exactly we were anymore."

"We're best mates." Louis said, shaking his head.

"Then act like it!" Harry snapped, biting his lip. "You want to know why I'm here?"

"Of course I do." Louis said, seemingly not phased by Harry's slight outburst.

"I got that bug that's been going around at school."

"Is that all? Most kids just take a few days off for rest and then-"

"That's not all." Harry shook his head. "I haven't been eating. For weeks and weeks, I haven't been eating."

"What?" Louis asked. "But...But why, Harry? What's the matter? You don't think you're fat, do you? Because-"

"I don't think I'm fat, Lou. The aching, empty feeling in my stomach was just a nice distraction."

"Distraction from what?"

"From...From the fact that I'm in love with you and you've completely stopped spending any time with me because you're always with Valerie." Harry said in a rush, all of his words running together.

"You're in love with me?" Louis whispered.

"Yeah." Harry muttered. "So now you know and you can go back to ignoring me, but this time it can be on purpose."

"Why would I ignore you over that, Harry?"

"Because you've got Valerie, and you two are happy together, and I'm just a crazy kid who apparently decides to stop eating when my best mate gets a girlfriend."

"Hey." Louis said, taking Harry's hands in his. "You aren't crazy, alright? Don't ever say that. I've been an absolute idiot, not to mention a complete twat. Do you want to know why I stopped spending so much time with you when I started dating Valerie?"

Harry shrugged. He wasn't sure he did want to know, but he figured Louis at least owed him the knowledge.

"It's because I have feelings for you." Louis said, and Harry was sure his jaw had dropped. "Have had since a few months after you moved here, but I didn't think you'd ever like me back. Valerie asked me out, and she was sweet and lovely and funny, and everything I was looking for in a person. Except for the fact that she wasn't you. And I knew that if I kept spending so much time with you, I could never be truly happy with her, because I'd always just be wishing she was you. So I started slowly removing myself from you, because I couldn't just quit cold turkey. You're too important to me for that." Louis sighed, taking one of his hands back from Harry's to rub his forehead tiredly. "I wish you would have told me how much you were struggling. I would've come running back, I promise you that."

Harry shook his head, trying to take in all of the new information, "You liked me back this whole time?"

Louis nodded, biting his lip.

"But you're with Valerie now." Harry said, trying to figure out what exactly Louis' plan was here.

"I don't have to be."

"You can't break up with her over me." Harry said. "That wouldn't be right, Louis. She'll be crushed, won't she?"

"She might." Louis shrugged. "But you love me, yeah?" Harry nodded. "And I love you. I'm sure of it. Because no matter how little I talked to you and how often I was out with Valerie, I was always wondering what you were up to and how you were doing. Though...I guess the answer was not well, hm?"

Harry simply nodded once more, shrugging a bit.

"I want to be with you, Harry." Louis told him. "That is, assuming you'd still like to be with me."

"Of course I would." Harry said, not even pausing to think.

"Then it's settled." Louis smiled. "I...Look. I know I haven't broken up with Valerie yet, but can I kiss you? I've wanted to for ages, and I don't know if I can wait any longer."

Harry's heart began pounding in his chest, and he nodded. Louis leaned in slowly, and their lips connected, and Harry felt sparks of electricity shooting up his spine. It was a short few seconds of contact, and they hadn't moved their lips at all. It had just been a simple, short, closed mouth kiss. And yet it was one of the most magical things Harry had experienced in his entire life.

His eyes remained closed for a few seconds after Louis pulled away, and then they slowly fluttered open. Louis was mere inches away from his face, his blue eyes shining, and a wide grin in place.

"I'd better get going." Louis said. "I've got homework to do and a girlfriend to break up with."

Despite how awful that really sounded, Harry snorted. He felt rather giddy at the moment, "I'll see you soon?"

"Very soon." Louis nodded. "I'll call you later, yeah? Promise me you're going to start eating again, Harry."

"I promise." Harry nodded. "I swear."

"Good." Louis pecked him lightly on the lips and squeezed his hands gently before leaving the room.

Harry sighed, a smile spreading across his face.

His mum came back half an hour later and took one look at him, and then began to smile.

"Did Louis stop by?" She asked knowingly.

Harry nodded.

"Good talk?"

"Very good talk."

"I'm glad, love." Anne smiled, kissing him on the forehead. "I know you probably feel a lot better, but I want you to go to therapy for a while, alright? Just to work everything out in your head."

Harry nodded, "That's fine, mum. I'll go."

"Good." Anne said. "I'm really glad you and Louis have worked everything out. I've wanted you two together for a year, and I was sick of you beating around the bush."

They both laughed, and Harry reached up, bringing his mother down into a hug.

"I love you, mum."

"I love you, too, baby boy."


End file.
